Monday, March 19, 2012

Lookin' That Gift Horse In the Mouth

Fluffy Backyard
The Thaw
Top: March 2nd. Bottom: March 11th.

Coming off the wackest (unseasonably warm, that is) winter in my memory, we're dealing with a late March that feels like mid-spring. It doesn't make a got-damn lick of sense. However, just like when I was confronted with a piss poor winter wonderland, I'm choosing to embrace the situation rather than complain. I'm not whining about the thawed dog shit, or bitching about the garbage that the snowbanks hid. The day I took the picture on the bottom, I drove to my son's daycare with the window down and the tunes blaring, observing the city's early renewal with pleased eyes.

Whether it's winter to spring, or winter to spring, I see Winnipeg in a new light and at a different angle. As mid-sized as we are, I always see something new. That's kinda what keeps me here.

With all that said, I will look that gift horse in the mouth and remember that global warming brought us here. All I can do is recycle, conserve energy, and pray that things will get a little (or a lot) better by the time my son is a man. I'd kinda like Dante to know what a real Winnipeg winter feels like.

In the meantime, I might put some music in my ears and walk 150 pounds off in this weather. You never know.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Tokyo Trashville

Tokyo Trashville CD Booklet
 A cover that's truly hard to ignore. 

What you're seeing above is the CD booklet to the Au Go Go Records compilation, Tokyo Trashville, and it's among my favorite covers of all time. When I first laid eyes up this in the mid-90s, I was truly in awe. I had two questions:
"Why is that sweaty lady humping the Eiffel Tower?" (I didn't realize it was the Tokyo Tower), and "Who the fuck is Rockin' Jelly Bean?"

That last question had me on a hunt, because I had to know who this magnificent bastard was, because he was obviously talented. In 1996, RJB didn't really have a web presence, and Alta Vista (remember that?) searches turned up random, barely translatable Japanese sites with broken links and references to Petty Booka, a duo he did work for. Any images I did find were often small and rather poor.

As the years progressed, I kept searching for stuff, and more RJB shit started to appear on the web, until he finally got his own nifty site and a great little store in Harajuku, where I copped this dope poster for his band Jackie and the Cedrics.

To think my admiration started with this sweaty-ass cover. Truthfully, that may have been the last time a cover blew my mind.